Mario Bautista
Engine giant Unity is leaving its controversial Runtime Fee behind.
In a blog post, president and CEO Matt Bromberg said that this had gone against the company’s core aims, which were to “democratise game development”. The exec confirmed that it was moving back to its initial seat-based model.
“However, we can’t pursue that mission in conflict with our customers; at its heart, it must be a partnership built on trust,” Bromberg wrote.
“I’ve been able to connect with many of you over the last three months, and I’ve heard time and time again that you want a strong Unity, and understand that price increases are a necessary part of what enables us to invest in moving gaming forward. But those increases needn’t come in a novel and controversial new form.
“We want to deliver value at a fair price in the right way so that you will continue to feel comfortable building your business over the long term with Unity as your partner. And we’re confident that if we’re good partners and deliver great software and services, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do together.”
Unity introduced the Runtime Fee in September of last year. In the process, the company burned a lot of goodwill it had engendered with the indie games community in particular.
